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TECH NEWS

First Look: Vielo V+1

We take a proper look at the new UK-specific road plus bike

We’ve now had the chance to see the new Vielo V+1 road plus bike in the flesh for the first time and we have to say that we’re pretty excited to try it out some time over the next few months to see how it rides.

We first showed you the V+1 this time last week, and Vielo swung by the road.cc office this morning with one of the prototypes and two final versions.

Vielo V+1 - seat stays.jpg

The seatstays are wide and flat – really flat, like a leaf spring – and there's no brake bridge between them. Put your hands on one of them and you can make it flex slightly with pressure from your thumbs.

Vielo V+1 - seat stays 2.jpg

We’re guessing that translates into a smooth ride over rough roads – that’s certainly what it’s designed for – although we’ve yet to try out the bike to see how well it works.

Vielo V+1 - bash plate 2.jpg

Up close, you can see that there’s great attention to detail here.

Vielo V+1 - bash plate.jpg

You get stainless steel bashguards to protect the frame and fork from the disc rotors when fitting/removing the wheels, for example, and another one fitted to the chainstay, right next to the chainring (chainring singular; this is a bike designed for a 1x drivetrain).

Vielo V+1 - fork.jpg

As a bike designed specifically for UK conditions, the V+1 features mudguard eyelets on both the frame and fork. They’re positioned so as to attract the minimum of attention when not in use. 

Vielo V+1 - head tube cabling.jpg

The cabling is UK specific, designed to work neatly with the rear brake operated by the left-hand lever. None of the cables touch the frame so you’re not going to get any wear to the paintwork caused by rubbing.

Vielo V+1 - bosses under down tube.jpg

As well as bottle cage mounts, you get bosses on the underside of the down tube for fitting a toolbox and on the top tube for a bento box (for bars and gels, for instance).

Vielo V+1 Camo.jpg

The pre-production bike (some of the details, such as the cabling, aren't quite right on this version) with a camo wrap is fitted with a dropper post that you operate via the left hand shifter (there’s no need to control a front derailleur, this being a 1x bike). It’s a really neat feature, the cable running internally.

If you don’t want a Sram system, you can go for Shimano with Dura-Ace/XTR components.

Vielo V+1 - drive train.jpg

Standard spec is with a 42-tooth chainring and a 10-42-tooth cassette, but Vielo will swap it to a 38-tooth chainring if you prefer lower gears. You can also choose the crank and stem length and the handlebar width.

Vielo V+1 - rear mech.jpg

The frame has a claimed weight of 890g (medium) with the complete bike coming in at 7.9kg. That’s really impressive for a bike of this kind.

The V+1 frameset, including the fork, headset bearings, axles and small parts, is priced at £2,999. Complete bikes start at £5,299. Vielo reckons its size range covers everyone from 5ft 3in to 6ft 7in.

Vielo expects the first delivery in February with availability through a small number of dealers soon afterwards.

For more info go to www.vielo.cc.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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9 comments

Avatar
matthewn5 | 6 years ago
0 likes

Yawn. Another leggy unresolved-looking frame, with loooong chain stays, at a Colnago sort of price. At this price I'd expect custom frame sizes and expect a builder I'd heard of.

Another thing: wafer thin seatstays like those are fine on a road bike. Off road, if you flip up a twig into the spokes a seatstay will crack leaving you with an unrepairable frame and maybe stranded miles away. It happens!

Avatar
Chris Hayes | 6 years ago
2 likes

GBP 3k for a frame is Pegoretti / /Speedvagen money.  Sorry Vielo+1 but I know where my money would go.  There seems to be a lot of nouveau frame manufacturers attempting to charge top-dollar these days.... I wonder who buys them?

Avatar
Colin Peyresourde | 6 years ago
1 like

It looks like someone vomited bar codes on that camo version.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Colin Peyresourde | 6 years ago
1 like

Colin Peyresourde wrote:

It looks like someone vomited bar codes on that camo version.

if they camo was any good we wouldn’t be able to see the bike

Avatar
Alb | 6 years ago
0 likes

UK-specific all the things smiley

Avatar
PRSboy | 6 years ago
1 like

£3k seems to be the new normal for frames like this.  There are a lot about... there must be more people around with the wherewithall for a £5.5k bike than I would have imagined.

Avatar
wicksy5508 | 6 years ago
2 likes

That bike looks like the bastard love child of a Storck Tix & Durnario. And £3k for a frame no one has  ever heard of!

Avatar
philhubbard | 6 years ago
1 like

They didn't happen to mention what was going on with the Storck proceedings did they?

Avatar
zero_trooper replied to philhubbard | 6 years ago
0 likes

philhubbard wrote:

They didn't happen to mention what was going on with the Storck proceedings did they?

 

https://www.bikebiz.com/news/vielo-v-storck
and a nice close up of the camo pattern to boot 
 

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